


Salt (And Pepper) In The Wound

by LaughingThalia



Series: SNAP!Verse [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Spoilers, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, no spell check we die like mne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 04:16:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14464812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingThalia/pseuds/LaughingThalia
Summary: SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR"I'll call Pepper.” He found his phone and dialled Pepper's number. At first he was annoyed because she hadn't picked up and then the thought dawned upon him as to why. The ringing continued. “FRIDAY," he asked, shell shocked "Where's Pepper?”





	Salt (And Pepper) In The Wound

In what felt like way too long Spider-man, Peter, was gone. He crumbled in his hands into dust and cried “I don't want to go”. One moment he was hugging the kid tight and then next he was nothing.

Mantis, Drax, Starlord and Strange had all disappeared without complaint but it was like Thanos was specifically trying to punish Tony when he gave Peter Parker enough time to wrench tears out of him.

Now all that was left was Tony and Nebula. Nebula mourning her sister and the loss of her revenge and Tony mourning Spider-man and the loss of half of the universe. “We failed.” He said to no one in particular “This is what I've been trying to prevent for years and I failed.”

“This is what I've been trying to prevent my whole life. How do you think I feel.” Nebula replied.

Tony turned to her, only just now registering her presence. “Do you know how to fly these things?” He asked her gesturing at the huge doughnut shaped space ships.

“Yes, I am a child of Thanos after all” She said bitterly.

“Can you... can you take me back to earth?”

She nodded and looked around. “All the Guardians are gone.”

“Yeah, I'm sorry about that.”

“Gamora was my only family. And the Guardians called me 'friend' because she was their family and now they're all gone and I have no one.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Could I... come back to earth with you? I'm a fighter, I could protect people. Help restore order now that half the population is gone.”

“You would have to sign some stuff, the Sokovia Accords, you'd have oversight.”

“I can handle some oversight.”

“Then sure, come along to Earth.” They made there way over to a space ship and Nebula opened a hidden door on the front. As soon as they made it to the... cockpit? Tony sank onto the floor and removed the broken armour from his body, leaving him only in his shirt and trousers, the trousers he'd been wearing when he told Pepper he hoped they had a kid, the clothes he had been wearing when he'd promised pepper 'no more surprises. He closed his eyes and thought about what he would tell Aunt May about the nephew that was like a son to her, how would he explain to her that he was Spider-man and that Tony had put him in danger and that he had died. What if she was dead too? He clenched his eyes shut and suddenly his hands were shaking and he was in his suit, with a nuke on his back, flying through a worm hole and he was dying and his vision turned black around the edges.

Vision. If Thanos wiped out half the universe he must have all six infinity stones and if he has all six stones then Vision must be dead. Vision who Tony had created, Vision who had just wanted to live, to be good and help and blend in and the gem had been ripped from his head.

“What are you thinking about?” Nebula asked as the ship rose into the air.

“I have a friend. He had the mind gem embedded in his forehead, it gave him life.”

She sighed “And Thanos probably wrenched it from his head.”

“Yeah, he probably did.”

They stood/sat in silence the rest of the journey until they entered their solar system “Last time one of these came to Earth people started dying and New York got destroyed again, I don't suppose this thing has a smaller pod we could take down to the surface?”

“Of course it does. Follow.” She started walking and he stood up with a groan and followed. The ship looked like The Dark Aster but miniature, of course Tony didn't know what the Dark Aster looked like, all he knew was that this ship looked much more practical than a giant ring.

Nebula stopped the huge ship by Jupiter and opened up The Dark Aster 2.0 (or 3.0 if you count the one from the end of Thor Ragnorak/beginning of Avengers: Infinity War). They landed dead in the middle of New York and as soon as the door opened Tony found several red dots on his person and many military men stood around with guns all aimed at him and Nebula. He ushered Nebula behind him since everyone was now VERY uneasy around aliens and Nebula wasn't exactly friendly looking. “Guys it's me!”

In a Quinjet, Rhodey, the other surviving avengers, the rogue avengers, Okoye and Rocket stepped out of their own Quinjet. Tony saw Captain America and Natasha and quipped “Bruce, I see you found my phone.”

“Yeah.” He answered with a very weak smile.

Rocket looked at Nebula and Nebula looked away. Rocket frowned “Nebula, where's the captain and the rest of the crew?”

She looked back at him and somehow managed to sound both robotic and emotional when she answered “Thanos killed Gamora in order to get the soul stone.”

“No!”

“Peter, Drax and Mantis turned to dust.”

“Groot turned to dust too.”

Nebula's head fell, “Then we are all that's left of the Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Tony sighed “Doctor Strange and – and – Spider-man.” he choked “They both...”

Steve nodded sadly “Vision's dead. Wanda, T'Challa, Sam...Bucky.”

Tony looked at Steve, his eyes widened “Bucky?”

“What are you gonna throw a party?” He scowled.

“I don't hate Barnes.”

“Really? Could have fooled me.”

“I hated _you_ for not telling me he killed my parents.”

“It wasn't-”

“I know it wasn't him! But _you_ should have told me that. Not Zemo. You.”

Bruce interrupted “So what do we do now? Half of everyone is just... gone.”

“Rhodey, contact the council. See who's still left. I'll call Pepper, get her to co-ordinate with the CIA and the FBI.” He found his phone and dialled Pepper's number. At first he was annoyed because she hadn't picked up and then the thought dawned upon him as to why. His eyes widened as the ringing continued. He brought the phone away from his ear and stared at the screen as the 'Dialling...' blinked on the screen “No. No! Not Pepper. Please not Pepper.” The super heroes and the army guys around him all looked at each other in sympathy because everyone was aware of their engagement after knowing each other for 25 years. “FRIDAY, where's Pepper?”

“I'm not entirely sure Boss.”

“What do you mean?”

“I'm still working on it, I don't quite understand what happened.” A video hologram shot out of the selfie camera of his phone and he clicked play.

_Pepper Potts was at her desk doing paperwork, her assistant sat outside. Suddenly she stood up and stumble, the assistant, Adeline, if Tony remembered correctly looked up and entered the office concerned “Ms Potts are you okay?”_

_“I don't know I don't feel very well.”_

_“Oh my God!” Adeline exclaimed and pointed to her left hand in shock. It was turning to brown clumps of dust._

_“OH MY GOD!” Pepper exclaimed when she looked at her hand disappearing. She pulled up a holographic screen and clicked on the call icon and reached out her right hand to click a button, a button clearly labelled Tony Stark. She tried to call him. Right before her finger hit the button it turned to dust too and then she was just gone._

_Adeline was silent for a second and then she just started screaming. She turned to the rest of the office and through the glass walls of the office it was very clear that it wasn't just Pepper. Half the Stark Industries employees were turning to dust. Adeline screamed some more started hyperventilating. She locked Pepper's office as if that would help and back herself against the far side of the wall and watched wide eyes as her friends and colleagues disappeared._

Tony closed the video and fell to his knees. “Pepper's...gone. She's been by my side for 25 years and now she's gone.”

No one knew what to say. They'd all been around when their own friend had disappeared but they'd all been in war zones of gearing up for a fight. They didn't want to but they'd been prepared to lay down their lives. It was different watching civilians; the people they'd sworn to protect; turned to dust like they were nothing.

Tony stood up “I have to talk to Spider-man's aunt.”

Rhodey stepped forward “Tony-” he said warningly.

“You need to talk to the council. They're going to need help with everything.”

“Tony please don't do that thing where you completely shut down.”

“If I don't shut down who's going to deal with all this SHIT! Half the world is GONE Rhodey, just gone! So you need to go help the council and take Nebula with you, she said she;d sign the Accords.”

Rhodey wanted to protest but he had a good point. People would be panicking. They needed to get a handle on this, and quick. “Fine but this isn't over.”

Tony took a deep breath and Nebula laid her hand on his shoulder as she passed him to follow Rhodes. Her hand was freezing, even through his shirt, but is was comforting none the less. “Natasha, I know you're a wanted criminal but could you co-ordinate help, search and rescue with the FBI please?”

“If you give them a heads up.”

He sent off a text to the FBI director. And she was off.

Steve frowned “Where are you going?”

“Spider-man was a kid and I told him to stay out of this fight but I'm the reason he's even in this in the first place. I'm going to tell his Aunt, his only living reletive, that he's dead.”

“You know it wasn't your fault.”

“Wasn't it?”

“It's not like you killed him.”

“I could have stopped Thanos! We were this close! We almost had the gauntlet off his hand!”

Rocket frowned “So what happened?”

“Star Lord found out he'd killed Gamora. He didn't take that very well. I can sympathise but he undercut the whole plan, his plan. It seemed stupid but it was actually working. Spider-man got the gauntlet off his hand and then he got blasted backwards right before we could ensure our win.”

“Damn it Quill!” Rocket sighed, kicking the gravel on the road.

“I'm gonna go, you guys might want to take a wonder around, help with the search and rescue amongst all this rubble.”

“What about the Accords Tony?” Steve asked.

“Half the council is probably dust.”

“So you'll drop the Accords?”

“I'm not dropping the Accords, and besides they're not mine to drop. They were ratified by 117 countries and a lot more powered people have signed it out of the public eye. The Accords are happening weather you like it or not but right now, we need all the help we can get.” He called for another suit and blasted out of there, away from Rogers. A man who was once his friend, who had been his hero. His father and Aunt Peggy had told him stories of Captain America's bravery and heroics and when they'd met in real life he'd been elated and then Steve had taken one look at him and hated everything about him and Tony was too used to that to let anyone know it had hurt him so he pushed back from the moment they met and Tony had thought they'd finally settled their differences but Ultron and the Civil War had clearly shown that whatever was between them, Steve had not gotten over it.

Tony wondered if it was because of Bucky. Was Steve always wary that Bucky had killed his parents and he was worried Tony would find out and punish Bucky for it? That he would find out Steve had been using his money and his equipotential and his jet to fly all around the world with Sam in search of Bucky. The Sam who was now dead and the Bucky who was now gone? Just like Pepper.

He stopped his train of thought as he landed outside her apartment building. The front door was open, clearly the residence were panicked so Tony let himself in and made his way up to his block. He knocked and she opened immediately, she had probably been standing in front of the door.

An Asian kid he recognised as Peter's friend was there sitting on the sofa watching the news reports of all the people who had disappeared.

“Mr Stark! Peter... is he okay? Where is he?”

Tony didn't quite know what to do.

Ned stood up and stood nest to her, looking up at him hopefully. Wanting to hear news that his best friend wasn't dead.

“I'm sorry-”

“NO!” She screamed “No he can't just be dead!”

“He just disappeared... in my arms. I'm sorry.”

Ned took her hand tightly.

“I uh... I'm sorry about your loss too Mr Stark, Pepper...”

Tony's head dropped. He swallowed twice, gulped deeply and blinked away some tears and then said in a strained voice “I... I honestly don't have time to mourn right now. The whole world is falling apart and I've gotten 40 missed called form the Council and the FBI is wondering why I sent known criminal Black Widow to help them and the CIA doesn't know what to do because half their guys got disintegrated as well and they're all looking to me for answers and I don't know! I don't know what I'm supposed to do, how to fix this, how we're supposed to go on with half the world missing!”

May grabbed his wrists “Tony. You're an engineer. Find the problem and find a way to work around it.”

“3.5 Billion people is a hell of a work around.”

“All you have to do is fill the spaces. Emergency services are probably severely understaffed so find people with medical knowledge, firefighting background who aren't currently working to help. You used to have that Iron legion-”

“I dis continued the Iron legion after Ultron.”

“But it wasn't the Legion that went wrong, it was the AI that took over them. FRIDAY can manage some simple search and rescue or whatever. Go to the council and be that Tony Stark form the news form all those years ago, the one who didn't take shit from anybody and commanded the room.”

He sighed “I haven't been that person in a long time.”

“Yeah, the world noticed. There's a blog that just documents your public appearances and breaks down what they think your psychology is. Apparently the Avengers are bad for you, at least the Ex-Vengers are.”

Tony sighed “I'd have to agree. But you're right, I don't have time to break down right now.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you read this without watching Infinity War you're a damn fool.
> 
> Also I was saving this title for something else, a short fic I was writing like a year or two ago about Pepper leaving Tony but I think it fits way better here and I was never going to finish that short fic because in hindsight I don't think it was very good.


End file.
